


Autopsy: The 100 (CW)

by sly2o



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Meta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26775586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sly2o/pseuds/sly2o
Summary: Meta about why the show went from good to awful.





	1. Cause of Death

**Author's Note:**

> Dumping all my meta into one spot because I have an overall thesis on what made the show good and why it turned it crap. This is going to be piecemeal for a bit. So maybe ignore until it's marked as complete? lol.

**Poor leadership - failure in adaptation**.

For me this is the central theme to:

1) why the show fell apart over the last few seasons, and

2) why it falling apart _hurt so badly_.

Quite simply, Jason Rothenberg was never able to adapt to changing circumstances and criticism which caused the show to fall apart. Furthermore, as leadership is a central theme to the show his struggles were reflected in the content with which we were presented. 

## Leadership

**Being “in charge” and “leadership” are not the same thing.** While being in charge is very much about the power and position you hold, leadership is about how you motivate others.

Now while they are not the same thing, the higher and more powerful of a position, the more it is required that the person who holds it show good leadership.

You might say “call me Bill” and think of yourself as a regular person, but people who work with you will still be influenced by the position you hold. Whether that position causes awe, jealousy, deference, nervousness, or something else in those in your orbit is not something you can control. But leadership will determine whether or not those feelings are also accompanied by _respect_.

Furthermore, whether you like it or not, **when you are in charge you set the tone for the organization and the example for acceptable behaviour**. Things like bullying, respect for privacy, people feeling secure enough to ask for help - these are all things that come from the example set at the top of the organization.

## Leadership in The 100

Strong leaders who made hard decisions which made for compelling drama is what made The 100 a worthwhile show.

Tor Lemkin aka Barrette Dad. He was faced with an awful scenario and came up with a plan to help save his daughter. He also shared that plan with others, and was the first person to put his name forward to sacrifice himself.

Quite frankly (IMO) it was leadership that was the central quality that made The 100 good. 

## Leadership Behind the Scenes

Jason Rothenberg had responsibilities of both creative and management of The 100. 

So let’s return to: **when you are in charge you set the tone for the organization and the example for acceptable behaviour**.

“You suck”.

## Failure in Adaptation

We’ve been living through one of the biggest examples of adaptation - changing our lives to adjust for COVID19. Wearing masks, putting up plexiglass in stores, working from home, these are all examples of how we have adapted to changing circumstances surrounding one problem.

And this is where we get to where The 100 started to fall apart. Because adaptation is at first glance a more peaceful endeavor, and we can’t have a marching army in a trailer if we don’t have a war.

Except the early seasons prove that adaptation can cause crisis. After all, it’s the grounders who have adapted to life on Earth that are a main antagonist. It’s the people in Mount Weather who could not stand radiation who are a main antagonist.

## When we should have known it was over

**Season 5B.**

(TBC)


	2. What's in an episode name? Season 1

A summary of what the episode names mean with respect to the episodes and their content. 

## “Pilot”

First episode. Almost every first episode for a series that needs to get picked up is called “pilot” so no analysis needed.

## “Earth Skills”

Self-referencing. Named for a class all the young Arkadians take.

## “Earth Kills”

The first deaths of the series happen in this episode. 

A play on the prior episode’s name.

## “Murphy’s Law”

Murphy’s Law is a well known adage meaning that “if something can go wrong, it will go wrong”. This episode sees Murphy’s law unfold in how things go so wrong with Bellamy and Clarke’s initial instincts on how to find and deal with the culprit in the death of Wells.

This is also clearly a play on words - a “law” is created when they decide to banish Murphy. In other words: it’s “Murphy’s law”. 

## “Twilight’s Last Gleaming”

This is a lyric from the Star Spangled Banner, which is the United States of America’s national anthem.

Multiple lyrics from the Star Spangled Banner that apply to this episode. In particular, ”the rocket’s red glare” “gave proof through the night that … still there” is something that literally happens in this episode - when the delinquents fire off the rockets to tell the Ark that they are still alive on the ground. 

“Twilight’s Last Gleaming” is also an abstract yet literal way to describe the culling that occurs in this episode. It is at twilight that the last gleaming of light occurs in the eyes of those who were culled. 

## “His Sister’s Keeper”

References either (or both?): 

  * a book titled very similarly called “Her Sister’s Keeper” - where a young girl is raised almost exclusively to save the life of her other sister.
  * a quote from the bible about being “His brother’s keeper”. 



There are multiple people other there who have written meta about this over the years, so I’m not going to dive too deep into this. However this is definitely a double play again.

In the flash backs, this title is obviously about Bellamy and Octavia (literally no one else has a sister on the show at this point). 

However, this title may also be about Lincoln and Octavia - as during this episode Octavia has been captured, or “kept” by someone else. 

## “Contents Under Pressure”

A common warning on highly volatile containers. This warning means to be cautious in opening a container as the contents will come spilling out. Usually the complete phrase is “Contents under pressure, handle with care”. 

This name generically speaks to the stress in this episode. Finn must be “handled with care”. Jaha is at his breaking point when he finds out Wells had died - plus the storyline that the workers in the Ark, manipulated by Diana Sydney, gets going in this episode. The entire Lincoln torture scene is high stakes.

However, this name also seems to be a writers joke. This is a highly stressful _bottle_ episode (aka, a volatile container), where they spend the entirety of it inside the dropship and the ark. 

## “Day Trip”

Clarke and Bellamy go on a day trip. 

This is also a pun - everyone is “tripping” when they eat the Jobi Nuts.

## “Unity Day”

Self referencing to an event in The 100. A tongue in cheek name as it is during Unity Day that the lack of unity amongst the different groups is revealed.

  * Finn discovers Octavia has betrayed her brother’s trust by sneaking off to meet with Lincoln
  * Diana Sydney betrays the people of the Ark by initiating her coup and stealing the exodus ship
  * It is revealed Lincoln betrayed his people in prior episodes by blowing the fog horn to save the delinquents. 
  * Clarke betrays Finn’s trust by having Jasper/Bellamy trail the two of them with guns
  * Anya betrays Lincoln’s trust by bringing snipers in the trees,
  * … and so on.



Over and over again in instances where people should be standing together, they are revealing to be standing apart.

It is also an episode where the delinquents try to make a deal with the grounders - to create unity. 

## “I Am Become Death”

From the 100 wikia:

_The episode title is a reference to a quote made by J. Robert Oppenheimer after he created the atomic bomb: “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” The quote is Oppenheimer’s own translation of a Sanskrit phrase from the Bhagavad Gita._

This episode features the delinquents building and activating a bomb to delay the grounders. 

It also features the delinquents becoming “deathly ill” - in a way, they have “become death”, and some of them do die. 

## “The Calm”

Likely references part of the phrase “the calm before the storm” - an idiom that refers to either an actual calm, or a false calm, before the big event.

This may be a writer’s joke as this is the prelude to the season finale - so it is a “calm” before the big event that is the finale. 

## “We Are Grounders (Part 1) and (Part 2)”

Self-referencing to the canon term “grounders”.

For the people on the ark - this is about them becoming grounders, as they make the descent to the ground.

For the delinquents - this is also about becoming grounders in a different way. Bellamy makes his speech about how “we are grounders” - and making their claim for the ground, while fighting the grounders who are there. 


	3. What's in an episode name? Season 2

## “The 48”

Named for the number of delinquents in Mount Weather.

May also be a reference to “the 48 Continental united states” - as Mount Weather is positioned as the “memory” of the pre-apocalypse United States, including flags and a “president” who runs the bunker where they live. In later episodes it even shows a “US department of homeland security” on one of the doors of Mount Weather leading to a decontamination area.

## “Inclement Weather”

The word “Inclement” from vocabulary.com

 _Inclement_ usually refers to severe or harsh weather that is cold and wet. … This adjective can also refer to a person or action that is harsh and unmerciful. 

This is obviously a pun on Mount Weather, and the ultimate reveal that Mount Weather is (unmercifully) caging grounders to harvest their blood. 

A few other “harsh” and “unmerciful” things that happen in this episode:

  * Raven’s surgery with no anesthetic
  * Octavia’s methods to get Lincoln back from Trikru
  * The reapers capture of Lincoln
  * Clarke’s methods to get herself sent back to medical to investigate if Mount Weather is lying to her about the bullet wound she saw
  * Kane’s ruling on who can use guns



It’s a bit of a stretch - but Jaha also has to guard himself against “inclement weather” (or lack thereof) as he makes his way to the rocket and then to the ground.

## “Reapercussions”

A portmanteau of Reapers and repercussions. 

“Reapers” feature prominently in this episode, as Octavia tries to free Lincoln from the reapers and Clarke/Anya try to escape them.

Repercussions also feature in this episode - to the numerous decisions/actions from the prior episodes:

  * Abby is shock-lashed for helping the kids escape camp and giving them guns
  * Anya does not cooperate with and ends up taking Clarke captive because of what happened at the drop ship in Season 1



Lastly, Finn acts as the Grim Reaper when he executes the grounder who he thinks has taken Clarke.

## “Many Happy Returns”

A common phrase said on someone’s birthday. 

A tongue in cheek reference to the many people/groups who have either returned home or to work in this episode and discovered that things aren’t going the way they thought they would. 

  * Raven returns to work - and faces her new life with her injury
  * Clarke returns to Arkadia - and loses the ally she made to fight Mount Weather along the way right at the front door
  * Octavia returns to the sky people - because Lincoln is gone
  * Zoran’s dad returns home - and it is revealed he left because he was making a deal to get a horse in exchange for Theloneous Jaha



## “Human Trials”

A medical term. 

  * First trials on Lincoln to make him into a reaper.
  * Maya is exposed to prompt human trials on The 48
  * More abstractly - Finn effectively puts a village of trikru residents on “trial” for the capture of Clarke. 



~~(I think I used to have more written here but it’s gone and I am not rewatching this episode again)~~

## “Fog of War”

“Fog of war” comes from a quote about the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations.

In this episode:

  * Acid fog is used on a search party that is approaching mount weather
  * There is a decision to NOT take down the Mount Weather radio tower because it is a key intelligence asset for Arkadia. 
  * Kane and Jaha are told they have to make a decision about who should be killed to answer for the crime Finn slaughtering the Trikru village. Jaha and Kane are in a “fog” around this because they have not heard of the slaughter.
  * Jaha holds a knife to a young girl as the solution for the “one of you must die” problem, but it doesn’t work because he did not have the situational awareness to know that girl is the commander.



## “Long Into an Abyss”

Come from the quote “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

Which roughly means - don’t become the evil you mean to fight, and as you come to know your enemy be careful that you don’t become like your enemy. 

## “Spacewalker”

Named for Finn Collins who has been nicknamed Spacewalker since the start of the episode.

## “Remember Me”

## “Survival of the Fittest”

## “Coup de Grâce”

From the 100 wikia:  
 _Coup de grâce_ can be translated from French as _stroke of grace_ or _blow of mercy_. A _coup de grâce_ is a death blow to end the suffering of a severely wounded person or animal. It may be a mercy killing of civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the sufferer’s consent 

## “Rubicon”

## “Resurrection”

## “Bodyguard of Lies”

From The 100 wikia:  
The title of this episode is part of a famous World War II quote by Winston Churchill: “In wartime, truth is so precious that she must often be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” The quote can be interpreted as: _In times of war, people must lie to protect/conceal the truth._

“Bodyguard of Lies” is also a book written by Anthony Cave Brown that is based on the quote.

## “Blood Must Have Blood (Part 1) and (Part 2)”

Self referencing. 


	4. What's in an episode name? Season 4

## “Echoes”

A nod to the character echo

An echo is “a close parallel or repetition of an idea, feeling, style, or event.” **In this episode we see echoes of numerous past villains and fights, but also the beginning of the conflicts that will frame this season.**

## “Heavy Lies the Crown”

From The 100 wikia: _The episode title is a common misquote of the line “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”, from Shakespeare’s play Henry IV, Part 2. It was picked because it sounds better._

Likely applies to multiple characters. Particularly:

  * **Bellamy Blake. His tie-breaking decision on whether to destroy the hydrogenerator.**
  * **Roan. New in his position as king in Polis, dealing with an uncertain group of ambassadors including one who plans to challenge him to a duel.**
  * Clarke. Learning how to motivate people to get to work repairing the ship, burdened by the knowledge it won’t save everyone.



## “The Four Horsemen”

A reference to “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” a concept from the Christian Bible. 

I ended up on a really interesting dig through lots of stuff on this topic. But the piece that stood out to me was this: The Four Horsemen are released when four of seven “seals” are broken. This is interesting in how the show _departed_ from this to make it 12 seals - aligning it with the 12 stations on the Ark and the 12 grounder clans. 

**From The 100 wikia: _The cult also used the hashtag “#fourhorsemen”, from which this episode derives its title._**

It’s unclear if this was the set designers/prop makers making a nod to the episode name or instruction from the writers. (Perhaps someone else knows more about which is most likely?)

**The Four Horseman are typically portrayed as Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. All of these are portrayed in this episode.**

  * Pestilence - Luna and her sick kru showing up at Arkadia
  * War - Ilian and company’s war on technology. The seeds of war between Arkadia and Azegeda are also sewn in this episode due to the decision to not tell Azegeda about Alpha Station only being able to support 100 people.
  * Famine - Only 100 people can survive with severe rationing, prompting the demand that Clarke make The List.
  * Death - the skeletons found in the fake Second Dawn Bunker. The Floukru members who died. The person Octavia murdered. Lots of people.



## “A Lie Guarded”

From The 100 Wikia:

_The title has two meanings:_

_It’s from the quote, “An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded.”[7]This might be a reference to Clarke hiding the truth about Alpha Station only being able to support 100 people out of the 500 Sky People._

_It is also a visual pun: “A Lie Guarded” → “ALIE Guarded”, referencing the drones guarding A.L.I.E.’s Island.[8]_

As the Wikia says - is very likely a reference to the cap on how many people can live in Arkadia. Particularly it seems like a reference to when **Monty berates Clarke saying “you’re the one going too far and using the same old justification** , it’s all for my people”. 

May also reference

  * the excuses Clarke is seen giving to the crowd of people for why certain people were and were not picked for the list
  * Jasper roasting Clarke for lying to everyone.



## “The Tinder Box”

This quote about Arkadians the Azegeda: “This is a tinder box. One shot, and we’ll be at war.” - Monty. 

**Arkadia going down in flames.**

## “We Will Rise”

note: apparently was supposed to be called “Fight or Flight”. But we’re going to stick with the final name they chose.

**Self-referencing to their own quote “from the ashes we will rise”. In the last episode what seemed like their only hope for survival went up in flames.**

The focus of this episode is the need to bring hydrazene to Becca’s lab so that they can get to space to create nightblood syrum. **In this case “rise” is to rise up through the atmosphere into outer space.**

## “Gimme Shelter”

A reference to the Rolling Stones song of the same name. The lyrics of Gimmie Shelter are about the Vietnam war and the the horrors that came with that war. 

This is the first episode where black rain comes down, causing a stampede towards the current source of shelter. **We see the horrors of what happens when shelter isn’t found.**

## “God Complex”

Reminder: a God Complex references someone who believe they are above the rules of society and should be given special consideration.

Many people. Particularly:

  * Abby for experimenting on humans. 
  * **Clarke for ignoring the group and injecting herself with the experimental nightblood serum.**
  * Abby again for ignoring the group and breaking the machine they would have used to test Clarke. 
  * Emori, for being discovered for having lied to the group about the identity of the grounder that was killed.



The connection between Second Dawn Bunker and the Grounder culture being revealed through a Grounder Prayer. (Niylah saying “From the ashes, we will rise” at the funeral for the people who died in the black rain). **This is another visual pun: the Second Dawn Bunker is revealed to be an underground complex under a place of worship.**

## “DNR”

“DNR” stands for “Do Not Resuscitate”, which is used in the medical field to indicate that a patient does not want CPR or any advanced cardiac life support if their heart stops.

**This episode features multiple characters in one form or another saying they don’t intend to live past praimfire.** They include Jasper, Raven, and Harper and a few others. 

## “Die All, Die Merrily”

A second reference to Shakespeare. This time it’s King Henry the Fourth Part 1. The full line is: “Doomsday is near; die all, die merrily.” 

**A reference to the conclave that dominates this episode where multiple reoccurring guest stars and one main cast member die.**

Numerous pieces of the play appear in a variety of forms in this episode. 

Scenes from the climatic battle of this play are also similar to the fight in the show.

Apparently a reference to Octavia being Henry IV? but I don’t know enough about the play to pick that out.

## “The Other Side”

This episodes name refers to the saying “See you on the other side” which is said by numerous characters throughout the series, but especially Jasper - including before he was supposed to die in the pilot.

**This quote is said by Jasper to Monty before he dies.**

Another visual pun: different factions are trying to get to _the other side_ of the second dawn bunker doorway.

## “The Chosen”

**Skaikru must choose who will stay in the second dawn bunker.**

Possibly a reference to Judaism and the “chosen people”. However I do not know enough about this religion to speak to any quotes or finer points on this.

## “Praimfaya”

**The villain of the season arrives.**

## Some quick thoughts on the name versus episode content

1\. I know we are drawn to point to an episode name and say “it’s about that individual” in the case of Season 4 when I look at all the things I bolded… they seem to really speak about the delinquent’s relationship with the villain for the season.

The names are about how the strife incurred on the delinquents by the villain (”DNR”, “The Other Side”, “Gimmie Shelter”), how our heroes are planning to defeat the villain ( “A Lie Guarded”, ”God Complex”, “We Will Rise”), how their plans failed (“Heavy Lies the Crown”, “The Four Horseman”, “The Tinder Box”) and then at the very end the name of the villain (”Praimfire”). 

_I might be shoehorning some of those in._

2\. The writers like their visual puns (”God Complex”, “A Lie Guarded”, “The Other Side”)

3\. Interesting that they did two Shakespeare quotes from plays that bookend each other. 


	5. Season 4 Rewrites

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR: I think Riley was supposed to be a LI for Clarke, and Monty + Harper filled a story-line that Bryan + Miller was supposed to have, and that Miller was supposed to go to space.

We know that when the actor who plays Bryan abruptly left the show to pursue another role, which resulted in the parts written for him being given to a new character named Riley. So with the information we have, what was Bryan supposed to be doing in 4A and 4B?

Well first let’s ask ourselves…

## What was Riley supposed to be doing before this shift in plot line?

**Answer: Clarke.**

I call forward as evidence:

_1\. The awkward hug._

Clarke clearly recognizes Riley, and clearly has a history with him. This is never resolved (and evidently never will be). Why waste the audience’s time with this?

_2\. Niylah’s out of character return_

When the actor who got cast as Riley had to shift into Bryan’s role in 4A, someone else had to shift into what had originally been carved out as the Riley role. Hence the return of Niylah.

Why on Earth would Niylah want to climb into bed (so to speak) with the very kru that killed her family?   
Why would she want to tend bar for the people who executed her father?   
After the violent interaction she had with Skaikru in Season 3 where they stormed her home - which resulted in it being attacked by ALIE - why would she want to be anywhere near Skaikru ever again? 

Clarke’s magic ladybits can only explain so many of these questions without some very explicitly stated plot - and helping make rations is hardly good enough. 

How Niylah turned around to accepting Skaikru is 100% glossed over… almost as if it wasn’t planned for. 

_3\. Niylah’s extremely lacking season 4 character arc._

If Niylah’s presence in the Skaikru area was planned all along - why didn’t she play a role in helping free Bellamy in 4x11? Surely she’d want to help all the people she had traded with in the past survive the radiation blast.

If her presence was planned all along, why did she play a bizarrely helpless role in stopping Illian when he arrived at Arkadia to blow up the place? What happened to the capable Niylah who lied to the Prince of Azgeda in the premiere of Season 3?

98% of Niylah’s role is season 4 was to be a place of comfort for Clarke to go to, where Clarke could exposition her internal thought process. 

Because that was what Riley’s role was supposed to be - and it would make sense in the context of a new character whose role was crafted to serve this piece of plot.

_4\. Timing of Riley’s and Niylah’s appearances_

Niylah doesn’t show up until episode 5, which is a few episodes after Riley is introduced. In theory, if Riley had stayed in his original role this would have been enough time for Clarke to catch up with Riley and do her usual grief bang move with her old love interest.

Furthermore, the fact that Riley gets a reaction, introduction, and hug - and Niylah just sort of shows up should raise some alarm bells about how she was not originally supposed to be in this season.

## What was Nathan supposed to be doing this season?

Last year Jarod Joseph tweeted he would be back in Season 4 in a “[big way](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fjarodjoseph%2Fstatus%2F733523598187462656%3Flang%3Den&t=MGUxMzdkNDcyY2VmMzIxMjhlOGFhN2Y0N2IyNzJkZDgyMmZjNWY2NyxxaU5XdFNoSg%3D%3D&b=t%3ApMCNdjcocH3iejVr525iqA&p=https%3A%2F%2Fsly2o.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F165990457326%2Fthe-butterfly-effect-of-bryans-altered-storyline&m=1)”… and yet the season showed us otherwise. Aside from break up with Bryan, sharing moon-eyes with Jackson, and being a guy with a gun when you need a guy with a gun.

So what was he supposed to be doing?

**Answer: part of the Monty/Harper 4B plot.**

Supporting evidence:

_1\. Riley being built up in 4A and then being sidelined in 4B just to die._

The writers had to dispose of Riley after he filled in the role of Bryan in 4A. As much as we all love Riley, let’s be real, he was never Spacekru material. There also wasn’t space to resolve his character in the finale (see below) because Niylah had taken his role so he just got… disposed of.

_2\. Bryan’s planned path of descent in 4A._

We know that the episode where Bellamy talks down Riley from assassinating Roan was supposed to be Bryan. We know that Bryan was headed to a darker place with respect to his mental health. The break up with Nathan (or what was at least going to be the start of a line of major fights) likely didn’t help either. Season 3 had already established that there was strain in this relationship (Bryan and Miller taking different sides in the Pike/Kane leadership) so this also wasn’t coming out of nowhere. Speaking of which…

The scene where Harper accidentally is linked to an Arkadian dying was probably Bryan’s last straw. But for Harper it was… the only straw? How did she break so fast? Being cut from the list could have added to that… but it seems a bit like she was shoehorned into a role meant for someone else.

3\. People arguing that they want to live in 4A and then deciding to die in 4B?????

Both Harper and Riley are a part of the mob that are _pissed_ at Clarke for creating the list and excluding them. Now just a few weeks later they are OK with dying? That’s not right. How did their anger turn in that direction so quickly? 

4\. Monty on double comfort duty at the DNR den

For me this one of the most compelling reasons for why Harper was supposed to be Bryan.

I believe Monty and Harper were still supposed to both be at Arkadia, but they were both supposed to be there because of Jasper’s importance to Monty. This would have been mirrored by Nathan and Bryan also being there and having a very similar fight to the one Harper and Monty had in the actual episode. By having these two pairs there (Monty + Jasper, Nathan + Bryan) it would have really drawn out the parallels between these journeys with respect to mental health. 

But instead we essentially had an understaffed Monty running back and forth between two people to comfort them which made for awkward pacing during the episode. 

##  **The impacts of Bryan’s replacement on the finale.**

**Nathan and Bryan were supposed to go to space.**

If the above scenarios had come to pass, then Nathan and Bryan would have been with the Arkadia group, meaning they would have been able to go to space. If this had happened, it would have really helped frame Octavia as alone again underground isolated from her peers.I also get the impression that Nathan + Dad Miller were filling in a storyline that someone else was meant to have, to echo back to Tor Lenkin and his kid and really emphasize that “are we really doing this again?” parallel. I think the kid everyone joked that Jaha adopted was supposed to be that kid. Instead that new Tor and his kid got sort of shuffled to the side as the writers scrambled to shoehorn in how they would save Nathan when he had been left off the list. 

**Emori was supposed to be kicked out of the second dawn bunker.**

The Arkadians pushing around and then kicking out Niylah didn’t make very much sense… Why would her [grounder] people abandon her? Because she spent 2 months hanging out over at Arkadia? That seems a little bit like an over-reaction. Are we supposed to believe she was so bad at trading that she had no favours she could use to get picked by her people? I hardly believe that. Again - what happened to the Niylah who could boldly lie in the face of the prince of Azgeda?

Now go back to the finale and imagine it was Emori who got kicked out by the Arkadians — this is a highly believable scenario because Emori has no people to speak for her since she was cast out for being different. John following his heart again because they are going to make it together in the bunker. Clarke giving her helmet to Emori would have meant _so. much. more._ on the heels of Emori being thrown out of the second dawn bunker, combined with how Clarke used the nightblood on herself instead of Emori. And then Emori saying “can’t we wait a little longer?” for Clarke after all that? Ugh my emotions.

##  **…And now the crack**

_(Look I have no self control - I can’t write meta without including crack)_

_**Was Clarke supposed to be pregnant?** _

YEAH I KNOW, OK, BUT HEAR ME OUT.

1\. Why has Jason insisted on calling Madi “Clarke’s child” as opposed to her _little sister_? Is it a hang-up from where the plot was supposed to go?

2\. Consider this: what if for “science reasons” the nightblood only worked because of the child inside her? Quite frankly we had an entire episode around why nightblood can’t be made in a laboratory on Earth, and it was enraging to see it work in the end because that means more people could have survived. It would have been much more satisfactory to see that it was Clarke’s unique scenario that that saved her life. (Also explains the throw up in the finale). Plus it would help stress in season 5 that Clarke owes her very life to her child which is why she always puts the child first. It also explains why it was six years of time gap. A five year old (remember, we lose almost a year because pregnancy time) is old enough/big enough to get into trouble on their own. Four years old is kinda pushing it on the “this is way too young” spectrum. 

## Some Last Thoughts

Something I hope I haven’t stirred up, but that I will mention in case I did, is that I hope this doesn’t come off as anti-niylah/niylarke. My complaints are really that Niylah and her relationship with Clarke could have been done way better in this season. Ultimately it was great relationship for Clarke to have (and honestly, probably a better pairing than Riley + Clarke would have been), but the execution was really off for all the reasons I named above.

I think a lot of the pacing problems with the season can be traced back to Bryan’s exit. It makes me ask - why didn’t they just recast? But I guess that’s not really something they do with this show (except for Madi?? IDK)

I’m sure there are other pieces to this puzzle I am missing, but I find this concept so easy to lock in with the season that I just can’t help but believe it was what was originally written. 

Either way it’s unprovable and not canon… but I thought I’d share my speculation for what might have been with you all. Hope you enjoyed. 


	6. Season 5 Rewrites

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR: I think Charmaine was supposed to die, the rewrites mangled both Clarke’s storyline and the central theme of the season, and that the ship wars have broken Jason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fact that Charmaine was originally supposed to die in Season 5 was confirmed to be true during Season 7's run. So points for me I guess?

Jason revealed that Season 5 went through re-writes upon the news that the actress they cast to play Diyoza was pregnant and would be visibly pregnant during filming.

(Source: [X](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tvinsider.com%2F704877%2Fthe-100-season-5-questions-answered%2F&t=ZDJjZjRiYTVjODRjOWNjMmY0YzI4ZTg0YmRjMzViMmI0MDlmZGIyNywyYWQ4NTIzYWI4YjY4NmZlNDQ0Njk0NjlhYjcwZjBkNjhjMWExOTky&ts=1601661470))

The first question to ask is:

## What did Charmaine’s plot line look like without her being pregnant?

For the most part early season stays the same for Charmaine - up until the reveal. And to be honest, given the timing of casting the writers probably didn’t have the opportunity to change the entire season for Charmaine and those that interacted with her. 

This means a different type of relationship with McCreary. 

It means McCreary doesn’t have an excuse to keep her alive.

## What was the point of naming 5x09 “Sic Sempre Tyrannis”?

No seriously, what was the point?

I’ve done episode name analysis for every season of The 100 and this is the one name that is _specific_ and _makes no sense within its context._ At least with episode names like “Demons” and “Fallen” they are vague enough to mean almost anything. 

But Sic Sempre Tyrannis is most famously known as the words shouted by people before they kill iconic leaders - specifically said before the assassinations of Julius Caesar (death by multiple stab wounds) and Abraham Lincoln (gun shot to the back of the head). 

And yet! No one remarkable died in this episode????? 

There’s even the set up for the Julius Caesar style murder - with Charmaine fighting off multiple attackers who have knives. 

But Charmaine miraculously escapes... and the season falls apart.

## Whose lines are those anyways?

If you accept that Charmaine had to die in 5x09 - the next logical step is that she needs to take up space previously given to other characters. 

## What was the deal with Kane this season?

Charmaine’s story being ransacked and changed meant that those that interacted with most were impacted. None moreso than Kane.

Kane seemed to be the perpetual whipped dog of this season. It’s wild rewatching Season 1 and 2, and then seeing him now. 

I think Kane x Diyoza was supposed to be a parallel to Clarke x Lexa - in all the same ways. 

\--

Whatever story was supposed to be here got so screwed around that the timelines for Henry Ian Cusick line up so that he started looking for new work while filming Season 5 of The 100 (assuming no more than a 7 month gap between casting and film production). 

But hey, this isn’t the first time where this has happened on this show. Famously, Ricky Whittle asked to be written off The 100 after having his story mangled and being sidelined for a brunette guest cast member, and got cast as the lead in American Gods. 

## The character assassination of Clarke Griffin

There’s been a lot of complaints about Clarke’s behaviour this season, and honestly a lot of it is fair given how her story was mangled at the back half of the season.

There are two specific things that happened late in the season that to me can only be explained by last minute plot mangling to let Diyoza live.

1 - When Clarke went from “I am going to betray and capture my friends to save Madi” to simply letting Madi leave on her own to become Heda while Clarke did some unspecified side-mission.

2 - When Clarke didn’t shoot McCreary when he armed the missiles. 

The _entire_ season Clarke has lost her shit keeping Madi safe.

Unfortunately that intent was lost in the rewrites and instead we were left with Clarke acting peculiarly at best. HawthroneWhisper’s meta on grey area really covers a lot of what I want to say here... but it gets compounded by the missing conclusion in that it has simply opened the doors for people to say misogynistic things about Clarke. 

**So let me ask you all the ultimate question:**

## Why didn’t Jason just recast Charmaine or use more body-doubles and clever shots to hide the pregnancy?

The answer to this I think is tied up in a different question and it’s this one:

## What was the reason for this season?

Every season there is a bigger thematic villain which drives all conflict and is the grand unifying “reason for the season”. It’s usually an idiom and something that is sort of “common knowledge”. I explored this as length in a different post but I’ll give you a short version here.

Season 2: “Blood must have blood” - another way to say “An eye for an eye”, and the full idiom is “and eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”. 

So let’s talk about “Damocles”.

First off - they didn’t even EXPLAIN Damocles at the end of the season, which is a huge departure from all other seasons giving references (some sort of speech) that explains that thematic villain. 

But here’s the short version of what Damocles is:

Damocles was an obsequious courtier in the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse, a fourth century BC tyrant of Syracuse. Damocles exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day, so he could taste that fortune first-hand. In the evening a banquet was held, where Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a king. Only at the end of the meal did he look up and notice a sharpened sword hanging directly above his head, held only by a single horse-hair. Immediately, he lost all taste for the festivities and asked leave of the tyrant, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate. Dionysius had successfully conveyed a sense of the constant fear in which the great man lives.

([X](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2Fsword_of_Damocles&t=MGRjYzNmZGY4ZDNjNjU5NzlkMDVjY2ZmNzFhNjc4YTFjMjFmYjUzNyxjMzI1MmZhM2I4ZmYyMDJjNzViZjZhYzY5YWU3ZmRhY2FlYjMyNmI5&ts=1601661470))

I think that Damocles was supposed to represent a relatively new idiom we all know - and it’s “when you play the game of thrones, you win or you die”.

## The 800lb Gorrilla (no, not that one)

Here’s the thing about Damocles as a theme that I am just gonna outright say - it is the reason Lexa died.

When you’re at the top of the leadership pyramid in a show like The 100 the predominate way out of that position is through Death (caveat: up until season 5B). (See: Diana Sydney, Dante Wallace, Cage Wallace, Anya kom Trikru, Charles Pike, Roan kom Azgeda, Theloneous Jaha) 

Season 5 was the first full season Jason wrote after the entire Lexa death blow up and it’s all over every piece of the season that Jason personally had his hands on. I think in some ways this season was meant to be a closure piece on Lexa - in showing the lesson Jason learned through Clarke’s storyline.

Because “oh Clarke is just a crazy mom” doesn’t make sense for her actions - but what does make sense is that Clarke is traumatized by the dangers of leadership and how it took away the woman she loved. 

_And this is why I think the ship wars have broken Jason._

Because I look at these rewrites, and loose threads from pieces of plot, and the abandoned central thesis of the season — and the pivot point for Jason in the rewrites is revealed both in the finale and in the same piece of interview I pasted at the beginning of this post

“The 100 is about rebirth and second chances”. 

This piece about “second chances” is what Bellamy pleads with Madi in the finale when her first instinct is to eliminate the remaining prisoners with Eligus... and yet this piece about “second chances” is not congruent with nearly everything we saw this season.

  * Bellamy himself finally stops giving Octavia second (and third, and fourth, etc) chances - and that’s how their relationship ends that season. No second chances ( _despite_ Bellamy’s speech that same day about second chances).
  * Octavia’s rule of law does give people a second chance but only after they have earned it through fighting... which is a bit of a perverted way to interpret “second chances” and I think is a horrible take away - for this fighting arena to have been a good thing.
  * Even then, Octavia straight up executed people for not eating other humans - there was no second chances there
  * ... and that’s it? The other story lines have almost nothing to do with second chances. 
  * Actually I can think of one - it’s all the cut Echo scenes to do with her wondering about her place in the world that Tasya mentioned in interviews. But if “second chances” as a theme is so important - than why did they cut her scenes?



Anyways, I can only really interpret this after-the-fact “second chances” theme in one of two ways, either:

  1. it’s bad writing (which I don’t think it was meant to be), or
  2. **it’s a self-insert from Jason who so desperately wants a second chance from the fans who left him.**



## Final Thoughts

Season 5 had a lot of potential, but was ultimately a let down.

I want to end on a hopeful note... but to be honest I am of mixed emotions around the mass changes in the writers room. I’m really not surprised that so many of the writers left when I think about just the amount of extra hours they had to put in to triage the show and what was written based on a last minute decision to change the fate of an entire character. 

I’m also in a place where I am not happy because Clarke is my favourite character, and it says so many things that I can’t quite put into words when the main character gets sidelined and messed around in their own show. 


	7. Lexa Trauma

Clarke has _a lot_ of very legitimate trauma related to the perils of leadership. Off the top of my head for instances directly related to Clarke being in a position of power there’s… 

  * The deaths of numerous delinquents
  * Killing Finn 
  * Her role in attacking Mount Weather
  * Nearly being taken hostage by Mount Weather
  * Nearly being taken hostage by Anya
  * Only not dying in TonDC herself because she was warned.
  * Experimenting on a grounder
  * Choosing to die to save everyone



Looking at this list though, I think none of them really had the “shock factor” of what happened between her and Lexa. The immediacy. The fact that it happened in a place that was supposed to be safe. The betrayal by someone they both knew - and that Lexa trusted. The surprise of it. 

Either way… 

Something i had originally written in that Lexa post was about whether making this trauma associated with the perils of power specifically about Lexa - _was whether this was a self-insert plot from Jason._

I took it out because I just wanted to present the idea of Clarke having trauma associated with leadership first and how that fits into the themes of the season.

But I think about… at the end of the day, this is Jason’s story and vision. He was driven off Twitter by the outpouring of grief that came after Lexa’s death. He dropped a mention about how he goes to therapy where he struggles to talk about his “blind spots”. I’d be surprised if the fan backlash towards him hasn’t impacted him and the story he intends to tell because of it. 

The story of Clarke not wanting her child to share her traumatic experiences associated with being in a position of power makes a lot of sense. However I think it’s going to skew a bit more towards Jason trying to atone and apologise for what happened to Lexa because of his real life experiences and hearing repeatedly about the grief he caused to so many people. Whether he’s successful or not… that’s for people who love that character and ship to judge. 


	8. The reason for the season

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Each season of The 100 is predicated on a central Aesopian lesson that is the root of all conflict for that season.

**_Each season of The 100 is predicated on a central Aesopian lesson that is the root of all conflict for that season._ **

**Or in plain English: each season has a “moral of the story” that is woven into the main plot line.**

And - that “moral of the story” is always in (some) way the name of finale.

–

## Season 1

**Finale title** : “We are grounders”

**English idiom/saying** : “I’m only human”. 

**What it means/moral of the story** : All humans make mistakes, or can be tempted into making bad decisions.

**Examples from the season** :

  * Clarke’s accusation of John Murphy as Wells’ killer.
  * Finn cheating on Raven with Clarke.
  * Bellamy shooting Jaha.
  * Bellamy’s efforts to prevent the Ark from contacting those on the ground.
  * Octavia and Lincoln falling for each other despite it being against their best interests due to them being on opposite sides of a war.



**Other reasons:**

A lot of the issues of this season were centred around base human trappings and weaknesses. 

Repeatedly throughout the season we start the episode with the Clarke voice over saying “we will be tested by the earth, the secrets it hides, and most of all, by each other.”

## Season 2

**Finale title** : “Blood must have blood”

**English Idiom** : “An eye for an eye (makes the whole world blind)”

**What it means/”moral of the story”** : If you take out vengeance on others, they will turn around and take out vengeance on you, and everyone will be left the poorer. 

**Examples from the season:**

  * The “on the nose” sci-fi twist of this being that Mount Weather is literally stealing blood from the grounders, and now the grounders are demanding blood in return.
  * The Grounders demanding that Finn be killed after killing the village of grounders.
  * Abby being whipped in front of all the Arkadians to make up for her crimes.
  * Clarke, Bellamy, Monty, activating and using the lever to kill all of Mount Weather to stop them from killing more of their people.



## Season 3

**Finale title** : “Perverse Instantiation” 

**English Idiom** : “The ends don’t justify the means”

**What it means/”moral of the story”** : As Becca put it in the show “how you get there matters”. This scientific term has a particular spin to talk about unintended consequences.

**Examples from the season** :

  * Lexa’s accidental death - where Titus thought he was just going to kill Clarke but ended up killing Lexa by accident. This was a perverse spin on what he wanted to accomplish - ending the positive treatment of Skaikru by the grounder leaders.
  * Bellamy, Pike, and others, choosing to murder the Trikru guard as a means to protect themselves. This action, which they thought would help keep them safe, actually resulted in putting Skaikru in more danger.
  * ALIE’s motives for bombing the earth, as explained by Becca in the finale. 



**Other comments**

It is perhaps the greatest irony that Lexa’s death was an _in_ _real life_ form of “the ends don’t justify the means” due to the backlash it caused - because the story’s goals didn’t justify revisiting a harmful LGBTQ+ trope. 

## Season 4

**Finale title** : “Praimfire” 

**English idiom** : “Playing with fire”

**What it means/”moral of the story”** : The full idiom is that “if you play with fire you’re bound to get burned”. Or that if you take big risks/are reckless, you are bound to hurt yourself.

**Examples from the season** :

  * Clarke lying to her people to convince them to praimfire-proof the Ark, and the being exposed by Monty that she was actually making a list.
  * Clarke lying to Roan about praimfire-proofing the Ark, and then being exposed and having to negotiate even less space for her people in the Ark.
  * Clarke/Jaha stealing the bunker when they were convinced Octavia wouldn’t win the conclave, resulting in having to gas and remove numerous Arkadians from the Bunker.
  * Illian in the most literal example of this burning down the Arkadia station - where his short sighted needs hurt the entire human race by taking away the one option for survival they knew about at the time.
  * Clarke choosing to stay behind in Praimfire was a huge risk - but one that did pay off since she did survive. 



**Comments:**

The alternate possibility for this season is that it was meant to be more about Prometheus - both the Greek version and Frankenstein (or known as its full title: “Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus“). This would be because:

  * Octavia is described as “stealing fire” - in a way, the baton wasn’t passed to her, but she stole it. 
  * Clarke does the Frankenstein version of Prometheus where she even literally turns herself into “a monster” by injecting herself with nightblood serum.



## Season 5

**Finale Title:** “Damocles”

**~~English idiom~~ Literary reference**: the sword of Damocles

**What it means/”moral of the story”:** Positions of leadership come with perilous circumstances. 

**Examples:**

  * The entire Blodreina arc. Octavia was psychologically tortured by the decisions she was forced to make as a leader. This turned her entire regime into one where perilous circumstances surrounded her (and Wonkru) at all times. 
  * Charmaine Diyoza being outed from her leadership position by McCreary
  * Clarke going to drastic lengths to prevent Madi from becoming Heda.
  * Bellamy being sentenced to death by Octavia when he chose to be a leader, rather than follow her commands. (Also Indra, Gaia, and Clarke).



**Comments:**

This was the first full season written after the big blowup when Lexa died. A big part of why this season fell apart at the end is because they seemed to at the last minute decide in rewrites to not commit to this lesson with Clarke. (Aside: Jason has revealed in old interviews that they did some rewriting after they found out that the actress cast as Diyoza was pregnant). 

Confronting Clarke’s fears related to the perils associated with leadership would have made MUCH MORE SENSE for her aversion to giving Madi the Flame (as opposed to the weakly given “mama bear” lines in and out of the show). Instead they last minute deviated from the plan, and the end of the season didn’t really show Clarke learning this lesson and how to move on from it. Instead she just had a sudden change of heart that made no sense, and then she was backseat to the story for the rest of the season.

## Season 6

(Note: I am posting this before the finale goes live so I miiigghhhttt be wrong on this)

**Finale title:** “The Blood of Sanctum”

**English idiom/saying:** “The Blood of the Convenant is thicker than the water of the womb”

**What it means/”moral of the story”:** The bonds formed in friendship are stronger than familial ties. (note: this idiom is frequently misquoted as “blood is thicker than water”, inferring the reverse)

**Examples:**

  * Bellamy’s huge rescue mission to save Clarke - one of his found family.
  * Bellamy saying “you’re not my sister” to Octavia and kicking her out in favour of his found family.
  * The Primes of Sanctum literally changing the blood of others to help turn them into their family is the sort of… “on the nose” sci fi twist of this saying. It’s like they said “well, why not both?”
  * Kaylee Lee recognized Josephine immediately when she took Clarke’s body (yes, she was goaded, but still). Bellamy recognized it **wasn’t** Clarke nearly immediately when Clarke’s body was stolen. And yet, Abby didn’t notice Josephine was in Clarke’s body, and Russell didn’t notice Clarke had taken back her own body from Josephine right away.



## A last note on idioms

As I went through possible idioms for the the seasons where I didn’t quite have it figured out I stumbled upon a ridiculous amount of other idioms referenced in the show.

**“Bob’s your uncle”**

**“It’s not rocket science”**

**“knocking on heaven’s door”**

_**There’s literally been an 800 lb gorilla on this show.** _


End file.
